Brace for furniture, &amp;c.



PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1903.

J; H. PACE. BRAGE FOR FURNITURE, &0.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1903.

k/ fg. L 1

N0 MODEL.

el ifenizys UNITED STATES Patented September 8, 1903.

JOHN H. PAGE, OF HURNVILLE, TEXAS.

BRACE FOR FURNITURE, a e.

SPECIFICATIOFT forming part of Letters Patent N 0,738,231, dated September 8, 1903.

Application filed March 27, 1903. Serial No. 149,892. (No model.

To (LZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. PACE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hurnville, in the county of Clay and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Brace for Furniture, &c., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to braces for furniture and the like; and the object thereof is to provide means for effectively bracing the parts of beds, gates, chairs, provision-safes, and other articles of similar construction in which a number of frame members are ordinarily united by means of glue or other means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a brace of such construction that it may be readily applied to articles of furniture already constructed without modification of such articles and which may be readily perated by any person of ordinary intelligence.

A further object of the invention is to provide a brace for structures of the character mentioned which will be inexpensive and simple in construction, while serving to perform its function in a superior manner.

In the description of the invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which the brace is shown as applied to a bed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a bed with the brace attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the head part of the bed with the brace attached thereto as seen from the outside. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section view through the bed having the brace attached. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective of one of the hooks used in applying tension to the brace-wires. Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly in section, showing the hook and socket connecting a side reach with the head or foot board. Fig. 6 is a detail plan View showing the mode of fastening the tightening-cord to one of the hooks through which it is laced.

In the drawings corresponding parts are designated by the same characters of reference throughout the various views in which they appear, and it is to be understood that the elements therein exhibited may be changed as to form, proportions, and exact mode of assemblage without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters, 1 designates the headboard of a bed, consisting of the transverse member 2 and upright members 3, into which the transverse member is fitted by the usual mortise-andtenon construction. at designates the footboard, having a transverse member 5 and upright members 6, united in the same way in which the members of the headboard are connected. 7 7 are the side boards or reaches of the bed, which are of the usual form.

In the uprights 3 and 6 are provided sockets 8 for hooks 9, provided one at each end of the side reaches 7. The hooks 9 are adapted to engage with pins 10, transversely disposed in the sockets 8, in order to hold the side reaches in association with the head and foot boards of the bed.

In the construction of the bed as described in the preceding paragraphs no novel features have been disclosed, but merely the construction of beds of a type well known in the art. My invention consists in the attachment to the bed hereinafter disclosed.

On the inner surface of the side reaches, near each end thereof, is provided a hook 12, which may be of any suitable construction and may be secured to the side reaches in any desired manner. The books 12 are spaced a short distance from the ends of the side reaches and are placed in proximity to the upper surface of blocks 7 which are of the type usually employed in beds of this kind to hold the hooks in association with the side reaches 7. The blocks 7 are in this instance provided near the upper surface with grooves 13 on the inner faces thereof. Inserted into the head and foot boards at points adjacent the ends of grooves 13 are hooks 14, which may be of any suitable construction, and on the inner surfaces of uprights 3 3 and 6 6, beneath the transverse members of the head and foot boards, are provided hooks 15 in alinement with the lower margin of the side reaches 7 of the bed. At the middle of each of the side reaches 7 I provide on the inner side thereof and near the lower margin a book 16, of

heavier material than that employed in the hooks heretofore mentioned.

Looped over each of the books 12 is a closed loop of wire 17, of suficiently small diameter to have some flexibility, and these loops are passed along the grooves 13, over hooks lat, downward through hooks 15, and are bent inward toward the center of the bed, as shown in Fig. 1.

Extending from the free ends of the loops 17 on one side of the bed are hooked terminals 18 of a wire 19, the middle portion of which is in engagement with the hook 16 on the opposite side of the bed. By providing two wires 19 both sides the head and foot portions of the bed are connected, as shown in Fig. 1, and in order to hold said portions of the bed in rigid association it is only necessary to put the wires 19 under a suitable de gree of tension.

The preferred means of putting the wires 19 under tension comprises hooks 20, of the peculiar form shown, and a cord 21, of suit able size, connecting said hooks. Each hook is preferably formed of wire, the terminal portions 22 of which form the hook proper and the intermediate portion of which is bent to form the two loops 23, the utility of which will presently be explained.

In using books 20 the hook portion 22 of each is caught over one of the crossings of wires 19 and the loops 23 are disposed inward, as shown. The cord 21 has one end firmly fastened to one of the loops 23 of one of the hooks 20 and is then passed over to the other hook 20, through one of the loops 23 thereof, back to the book from which it started, through one of the loops 23 thereof, and thence back to the other hook 20 and through the remaining loop 23 thereon. In its final passage through loop 23 on one of the books 20 the cord is passed upward, so that the end will be in a position convenient for grasping in order to pull upon the cord and draw the hooks 20 together, so as to subject the wires 19 to a suitable tension. As the wire of which the books 20 are formed is smooth, it presents but little friction, and the threading of the cord backward and forward through the loops 23 makes it possible for the wires 19 to be subjected to heavy tension by the exertion of a comparatively small amount of force upon the end of the cord.

When the cord 21 has been drawn through the loops 23 until the hooks 20 are brought close enough together to put the wires 19 under the desired degree of tension, the cord may be fastened in any suitable way, as by passing the end downward, then across under the loops 23, and then upward and under tongue 24, which lies between the loops 23, the frictional engagement of which will hold the cord securely in position.

By the construction described in the preceding paragraphs it is possible to force into firm contact all the elements of the bed structure by a single pull upon the cord 21, and the arrangement of the loops 17 in relation to grooves 13, formed on the block 7, efiectively prevents upward movement of the side reaches with consequent disengagement of the hooks 10 with the pins 11, provided in the sockets 9.

In order to prevent the loosening of the transverse section of the head and foot boards in the upright members thereof, I provide outside of transverse section 2 and inside of section 5 books 25, which are screwed into the oppositely-disposed faces of uprights 3 and 6, as shown. Four hooks are provided for the headboard and four for the footboard, two being placed near the top and two near the bottom of the headboard and all four hooks being placed low on the footboard, so as to be concealed by the mattress. A wire 26, having one end secured to one of the hooks 25, is run across to the directly-opposite hook, thence to the adjacent hook, then back to the remaining hook on the other side from which the wire started, and finally back to its starting-point, where it is secured, forming a closed loop, with the side portions thereof forming a rectangle. In threading the wire through the hooks in this manner it is impossible to subject it to any great degree of tension, and in order to put the wire under tension after it has been threaded through the loops and secured in position the two horizontally-disposed portions of the wire are forced downward out of line and caught over the head of a button 27, provided upon the bottom of both the headboard and footboard.

WVith the wire 26 arranged, as described, in the hooks 25 and under button 27 the vertical members 3 3 and 6 6 will be held in rigid association with the transverse members 2 and 5, respectively, so that there will be no danger of the parts becoming separated, as they often do when connected by means of glue.

It will be noted that in addition to forming a more secure means for associating the members of the bed structure than glue the brace described in the paragraphs immediately preceding is advantageous, because it permits the separation of the parts of the head and foot boards of the bed when it is desired to do so, as in putting them into small space for shipment.

While the invention has been described in connection with a bed structure, it is obvious that a brace of similar design may be readily applied to chairs, gates, doors, provisionsafes, and other structures of like nature and that when so used the parts of the structures will be held in rigid association.

Having thus described the construction and use of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination in a furniture-brace of a plurality of hooks disposed in groups at the corners of an article of furniture, a closed loop of wire connecting the various hooks of each group, a hook provided on each of the longitudinal sides of an article of furniture, a pair of wires each having terminal hooks in engagement with two of said closed loops ICC and its central portion in engagement with one of the hooks provided on the longitudinal sides, and means comprising a pair of hooks engaging said wires and provided With terminal hooks, and a cordpassed through said terminal loops for placing said wires under tension.

2. The combination in abed-brace of a hook near each end of the side reaches of said bed, a grooved block at each end of said side reaches adjacent to said hooks, a hook at the middle of each of said side reaches, hooks on the headboard and footboard of the bed adjacent to said grooved blocks on the side reaches, closed loops of wire attached to the hooks near the ends of the side reaches, engaging the grooved blocks and passing through the hooks provided on the head and foot boards,brace-Wires, each having a hooked terminal in engagement with the loops on one side of said bed and a middle portion in engagement with the hook in the middle of the side reach on the opposite side, and means for placing said brace-Wires under tension, said means comprising hooks engaging said brace-Wires at their points of crossing and having loops, and a cord passed through said loops whereby said hooks are drawn together.

3. The combination in a bed of head and foot boards having sockets, side reaches having hooks fitted into said sockets, grooved blocks on said side reaches adjacent to the ends thereof, hooks provided on the inner surface of said side reaches adjacent to the grooves in said blocks, hooks provided on the head and foot boards adjacent to the grooves in the blocks on said side reaches, hooks on the head and foot boards below the hooks adjacent to said grooves, hooks on the inner surface of said side reaches about the middle thereof, closed loops each secured to one of the hooks on the side reaches adjacent to the grooved blocks engaging a groove in one of said blocks and passing through the loops on the head or foot board adjacent to said block and terminating in an inwardly-disposed end, brace-wires each comprising hooked terminals in engagement with the free ends of the closed loops on one side of said bed and an intermediate portion engaging with the hook at the middle of the side reach on the opposite side of said bed, and means for plac ing said Wires under tension, said means comprising hooks engaging said Wires at their point of crossing and having loops, and a cord passing through said loops.

4. Means for bracing the corner of a bed comprising a grooved block on the side reach adjacent to the end thereof, a hook on said side reach adjacent to a groove in said block, a hook on the head or foot board adjacent to the groove in said block, a second hook on the head or foot board below the first hook on said head or foot board, a loop of Wire having one end in engagement with the hook on said side reach, passing along said groove in said block, through the hook on the headboard or footboard adjacent to said groove, downward through the lower hook, and inward toward the center of the bed, and means for placing said loop under tension.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN H. PAGE.

Witnesses:

J. H. JooHUM, J r., J. Ross CoLHorN. 

